


Spilt Tea

by flippednique



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, artist!Nico, blind!Will, drabble-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-13 14:30:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7980067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flippednique/pseuds/flippednique
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From: Unknown</p><p>Text: Hey Nico! I got one of my sisters to type this out for me. I just wanted to say that I'm glad I spilt tea on you. I mean, that I met you, not that I spilt tea on you. Do me a solid and put some petroleum jelly on that. Help me ease the worry of possibly handicapping the next da Vinci. Anyways, I can't wait to see that portrait. I'll hopefully have my eyesight by the end of the week. That sounded weird, but you get it. This is Will by the way, just in case some other poor, careless, and most probably apologetic soul decided to spill tea on you. Again, sorry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spilt Tea

 

_Dammit, he's staring again._

Nico sighed deeply as he toyed with his charcoal pencils, letting a couple of them roll down the length of his all but claimed corner table at Rhapsodize, a cafe that let you stay for as long as you liked doing whatever you liked. The owner was a rather flambouyant twenty-three year old with a sharp wit and a warm presence. Genesis had taken one look at Nico three years ago and had steered him away from the odd books up on large shelves and given him hot chocolate that burned like whiskey down his throat.

"You look like you need the sugar, darling." The redhead didn't say anything else, and left him to stew for almost half the day. He'd been wearing all black, a suit and tie. He'd run away from Bianca's graduation where his big sister, his best friend, had told him she would have to leave asap. He gave his congratulations eventually, but he had never stopped visiting Rhapsodize. The atmosphere hadn't stiffled Nico like other places would. Its regular patrons kept to themselves, respecting the others sharing the space.

Nico had made plenty of portraits, some had even been put for display on Rhapsodize's walls. He glanced up at one of his most recent works, of Genesis and his boyfriends (yes, plural). It had taken months to get every single thing down because not only was Genesis such a shocking character, his partners were equally loud in presence and aura. He had wanted to capture it all (cool blue eyes, silver hair, red trench coat) and perhaps he'd suceeded. The fivesome staring back at him was a bold statement. Genesis was a beautiful human being who was in love with five equally beautiful men.

It almost made skeletal butterflies, that Nico had thought he'd killed beyond hope, flutter in his equally dead-tired stomach. There just wasn't much that made things exciting anymore. Somedays, he didn't really feel much.

"Oh shit!"

But there would always be pain.

"I'm so sorry!"

With little grace, Nico shoved all his materials out of the way of the growing soppy mess on his table. He ignored what was probably just a minor burn on his hand in favor of looking up at the person responsible for his mini-heart attack. His breath caught as his throat closed up, had he been drinking anything, he would have choked.

"You." Nico bit out. He stared up and levelled his gaze on blond waves and tinted cheeks. There was a nervous bobbing of his Adam's apple as he worked up whatever he had to say in his defense of nearly killing Nico (dramatic much) with what was possibly green tea. Health freak.

The blond seemed to have gathered his bearings as he let out a very confused, "Me?"

"Yes, you." Nico nodded. "You've been staring at me ever since you got here."

Full lips fell in a rather wide 'O'. Nico felt his cheeks flush deep red. Had he been imagining the staring? Not possible. He'd been sketching for almost three hours, he couldn't have dreamt up all those looks, some of which lasted five whole minutes as his ears turned red in his efforts to ignore the eyes seemingly glued to his person. He huffed irritably, because he would not take this. He started shoving his pencils into his art case. The sounds of zippers being pulled seemed to pull the blond out of whatever state of shock he'd gotten into.

"W-Wait!" His hands reached out, hesitantly. Nico moved himself out of their way, then he caught himself as he saw past his little storm of rage to notice that the hesitance in the blond's movements wasn't because he was wary of where to put them. Nico's gaze moved up, higher, and he sucked in a sharp breath. How had he not noticed the sunglasses? "Umm..."

Nico ducked his head in shame. "You're..."

A nervous laugh left the blond's lips and he rubbed the back of his head, the particular action he seemed sure of. "Blind, ahh, yeah."

"I'm sorry." Nico gnawed on his bottom lip.

"No, I mean. I'm sorry! I spilled hot tea all over you! I thought this was my table. My dog's not allowed in here, she has to wait outside. Are you okay?" the blond paused. "I'm Will."

"Nico." Nico shook his head because for the love of all that is holy he couldn't figure out what else to do.

"Nico." Will echoed, the syllables flowing gently together as he breathed out. "That's a nice name."

"Thanks..."

"I'm Will." A sharp wince went through Will's body and his face, or what Nico could see despite the sunglasses, fell in irritation. "Err, I already said that, right?"

"Yeah," Nico looked around himself and nearly smacked himself in the face. Some people had been watching their exchange. What they probably saw was that a blond guy was standing with his drink half spilt while he, a totally not blind guy, sat there like a chicken whose lost its head. He stood up, moving to take the tray out of Will's hands. "Sit!"

Will seemed shocked, not having expected Nico's movements or the sudden sharpness in his voice. "Sit?"

"I mean," Nico stammered. Shit. Shit. Couldn't he say anything right? "Sit... if you want to, sit that is. Cause you've been standing for a while and it must be getting really awkward for you..."

"Well, not really, but if you don't mind?" Will let the question linger.

Nico inhaled and shook his head, before he remembered that Will couldn't see that. "I don't. Please. Sit."

"Okay." Will's hands moved out in front of him, and out of desperation to do something, Nico grabbed hold of them, leading him closer to the table and helping him settle down. The blond's fingers tightened over his, in gratitude or probably confusion. It made Nico yank his hands away, this was getting more and more embarassing and awkward by the second.

Nico sat back down, Will across from him. There was a minute. A long minute. A very, very long sixty seconds. Which were totalled into a full minute.

"I'm sorry-."

"You're drink!"

 _What the hell is going on with me?_ Nico let his head fall down onto the table, and it hurt more than he'd thought it would. He winced but kept himself where he was. This was usually why he didn't approach people. He never knew what to say, he ended up staring the poor person down until they left in desperation to get away from him.

"That sounded like it hurt." There was a note of concern that was overpowered by amusement in Will's voice. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Nico grumbled. He should sit up properly, really. This was very rude. But Will couldn't see him with his head down, what did it matter? Wait, no, that was even more rude. What the hell. He sat up, then lowered his chin back on his crossed arms, letting his entire weight rest on the table. "I'm sorry."

A soft laugh came from Will. "I'm not sure what you're apologizing for, but since I spilled tea on you, we'll call it even?"

"Deal." Nico shrunk in on himself. "No deal."

"No deal?" Will's eyebrows were high above his sunglasses. "Hmm, I'm confused."

"You spilling coffee on me does not excuse me being an asshole to you for no reason." Nico elaborated.

Will took a moment to absorb that before nodding, almost in sympathy. "True, but you didn't know you were being an asshole to me for no reason. I could have just been someone who liked to wear shades indoors."

"But you're not." Nico added.

"No, I'm not." Will nodded. "But I could have been. I don't deserve special treatment just because I'm temporarily handicapped. I know I get enough fussing from my friends. In fact, this is the most fun I've had all week."

"What?" Nico snapped his fingers. "You're... this is temporary? How is that possible?"

"Ahh," Will's hand moved on the table, searching. What did he want? Long fingers found a half-cool and half-empty coffee cup filled with green tea. "My dad's a doctor. He's recently discovered a serum to return your vision to twenty-twenty. I used to have glasses, and it's my dad, so I didn't mind."

Nico drew his own conclusions. "You let yourself be your dad's lab rat?"

"I prefer to be called an active participant." Will grinned. "Besides, I was part of the thing from start to finish. I'm in pre-med. It's part of my thesis and research work."

"Science is stupid." Was what Nico had to say to that.

Will had a small frown on his face. "I don't think you truly believe that."

"I believe in it just a little more than I believe in Santa Claus."

"What?!" A scandalized gasp followed. "How could you say that, Nico? The old man in red would be crushed!"

"He'll probably fit more chimney's then."

There was a huge smile on Will's face. It was warm, like the spilt tea, like his burnt hand. It almost made him smile too. Of course, Genesis found it the right time to intervene with a cooled down towlette and another cup of green tea.

"You seemed to be getting along. How's the hand Nico?"

"Okay."

"How's the tea, William?"

"Great."

"I'll leave you two to it then." The redhead cleaned up the spill on the table then made himself scarce.

Nico rounded on Will. "William?"

"Yeah," Will hung his head. "My dad has this thing where he has to name his children with respectable doctor names. Not that he should be saying anything since his name's Apollo."

"Apollo?" Nico's eyebrows shot up. "Like the god?"

"Bingo." Will sighed. "I guess I should be happy he named me William, right. Could be worse."

"I've got a friend named Percy." Nico attempted to console him. "It's short for Perseus."

Will chuckled. "Is his dad Poseidon?"

"Close." Nico glanced up at Will, then at his art materials on the table. He worried on his bottom lip for a moment. Should he... but that would be... He'd take a page out of Leo's book for now. Caution meet wind. Sayonara! "Hey Will?"

The blond looked up from where he was sipping on his green tea. "Hmm?"

"Can I draw you?" Take it back. Who the hell meets someone then asks to draw them? Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Is that what you were doing?" Will sat up properly, his head tilting ever so slightly.

"Yeah." Nico fiddled with his things, then paused. "Wait, so you could see me?"

"Not completely. The sera's working, it's just taking a really long while. Longer than we anticipated. What was supposed to be a three day recovery turned into an almost week long waiting game. I was completely blind for the first three days but now I can make out shapes. Outlines and figures. I knew there was someone in front of me, but I couldn't see all of you."

"And so you stared." Nico cocked an eyebrow. "Were you trying to figure out what I was doing?"

"Yeah," Will smiled bashfully. "I sort of heard the scratching. I like to draw, but I'm not very good at it. You should be warned that if ever you go into Medicine, don't take Medical Laboratory Science as your pre-med. It's double bachelor degrees for MLS and Fine Arts."

Nico blinked as all of that flew by him. "I got none of that."

"Ahh," Will's cheeks colored pink despite his tan skin. "Pre-med joke. It's just a jibe on how much we draw in the laboratory."

"You must have developed _some_ skill then." Nico flipped his sketchbook to a new page, glad that the tea from earlier hadn't reached it. He picked out a pencil from his case and it hovered over the paper as he hesitated. "You didn't answer my question."

"Which one?" Will wondered. "Oh wait! You wanting to draw me?"

"Uh huh." Nico didn't have to wait long, and he got to work as soon as Will had given him expressed permission. The silence was something Nico worked well with. He and silence went way back since Bianca's leave. Perhaps it was a stage of pre-teen angst, but a part of him had died that day. He understood now that Bianca had had to do that since she was determined to become a success in the music industry and opera wasn't really big where they were from. She needed to explore and discover.

Will, however didn't look like he was enjoying the silence too much. He fidgeted a little to the left, a little to the right as Nico worked. When what was probably an unintentional deep sigh left him, Nico cleared his throat. "Are you bored?"

"Hmm?" Will seemed to be startled. "No, I'm sorry. It's not like I could do anything else. How's the drawing coming along?"

Nico smirked at the mess of geometrical shapes on his sketchpad. "Swimmingly."

Will chuckled. "You sounded so very posh right there."

"Well," Nico could feel his ears turn red as he finally got to shaping out Will's face. "English isn't my first language. I tend to use more formal words than some."

"I knew it!" Will exclaimed. "I knew I heard an accent somewhere in there. It was very faint though."

"And you could also hear my pencil scratching a table away." Nico raised an eyebrow. "You have really good hearing."

"I guess." Will shrugged. "It comes with playing instruments. My siblings fight over sheet music so much you kinda have to learn to play by ear. What was that? Are you okay?"

Nico glanced at the hot chocolate he'd been drinking before Will had come spilling hot beverages and wondered if Genesis had put anything new in it. He didn't usually have the strenght to snap his pencils. He put the poor 6B halves on the table and sought out another from his case. "Just a pencil accident."

"How does that even happen?" Will grinned.

_When boys with really nice smiles and humble dispositions manage to surprise me with every single word coming out of his mouth._

Nico shook his head at the absurbdity of his thoughts. He wasn't entirely out there with his feelings or his attractions, but he was comfortable with himself. Especially since the people who mattered most couldn't care less. He worked on getting Will's wavy but not curly blond locks into high defintion, taking care with every strand. He swiped at his own black locks falling into his eyes. Not in the artful way Will's were doing, but just plain dead over his forehead.

"You sound frustrated over there." Will noted.

"It's not you, it's me." Nico promised.

"Are we breaking up?"

Nico sucked a deep breath and glanced at his pencil. It was still whole. "What?"

"That just sounded like a really cliche break up line." Will explained. "The whole, 'No, Rachel it's not you. It's me. I have things to work on. I have to find myself. I can't do that and keep you waiting. It wouldn't be fair.' I don't even know what I'm saying. Ignore that."

A laugh pulled out of his Nico's lips. "You're a dork!"

The smile on Will's face returned ten-fold. "A lovable dork, right?"

"Sure." Nico got back to sketching. Will had nice shoulders, broad and muscled. _Do pre-med students have the time to go to the gym?_

"If we really wanted to. I have friends who are becoming Physical Therapists. They take physique really seriously. I get threatened to run on the treadmill or go cycling once a week to keep my muscles from wasting away. I'm also not allowed to drink more than a cup of coffee in one day so I kinda stick with tea."

He'd said that out loud? Nico let out a sound of what was probably an affirmation and embarassment. Hopefully Will wouldn't pick up on the latter. "Wh-What else do pre-med students do? You make us all look like we're in kindergarden."

"Not really." Will said. "Everybody goes through tough things. It's all about enjoying what you do. I have fun when I look through microscopes or when I have to extract blood. I enjoy learning about mortality and morbidity factors. It makes everything worth it, in the end. Nothing is ever easy, right? It's just about what makes everything worth it."

Nico looked up from his half finished sketch. "You're really passionate about this."

"It's probably my dad's fault." Will grumbled jokingly. "He ingrained in me the strong desire to be of help and to learn. Learning is fun for me."

"Said absolutely nobody at the age of eighteen."

"Excuse you, I'm eighteen."

Nico's hand skidded a little too far. He cursed and reached for a rubber eraser. "You're eighteen and a pre-med?"

"Third year." Will nodded. "It's a little different for everyone. Some other countries are lucky, they can go straight into Medicine. But here, we have to go through pre-med before we can even think of applying for Medicine. But hey, I'm having fun."

"Fun." Nico echoed. "I don't even know what could be fun about needles or... uh whatever else it is Medical Technologists do."

Will sat up straighter in his chair. "Do you want me to go through this discussion with you?"

Nico didn't even get a chance to answer. Will was going on about the importance and underappreciation of Medical Technologists, and there was a fierceness and a fire in his face even with the sunglasses covering his eyes.

"- and doctors wouldn't even know what to do with their diagnosis without us! They couldn't verify any of their scientific guests, no matter how sound they may be, without proper testing protocols- what are you doing?"

Nico held his breath, fingertips lightly holding onto the plastic frames. "Taking these off."

There was a short silence. "Okay, I don't know about you Vargas, but the shirt and pants come off after the third date."

Nico's face scrunched up a bit. "I meant the sunglasses."

"Oh, in that case, go ahead." Will grinned. "You didn't correct me on the name though, _is_ your last name Vargas? I have an Italian classmate and her last name is Vargas. Also, how old are you? You looked kinda tiny from what I could see. Also-."

Will was saying a lot of things, really fast and really excited. But Nico couldn't hear a thing. His attention was on Will, for once it wasn't on the grin on his face or the way his forehead kinda sorta scrunched up when he was getting all heated up about why exactly _one wears PPE in the laboratory dammit Lou Ellen_ , but they were on Will's eyes.

So... blue. Like the sky. They held Nico captivated even if they couldn't see him in quite the same way. His imagination went wild, how could those eyes be hidden behind sunglasses, or regular reading glasses like Will had said he had. How could those eyes not see the world for what it was?

"Nico?" Will's rambling halted. "Are you okay?"

Nico let out a shaky breath. Was he? Was he okay. "Y-Yeah."

"What's the matter?" Will inched forward, his hand fiding Nico's on the table. "You sound upset. And don't think about lying, I've got super hearing, remember?"

Nico smiled weakly at the attempt of cheering him up. "It's just... I know it's temporary, but you can't see. It must be so awful."

Will was quiet, then his gaze focused on him, trapping him in that light blue. Glasz like the pretty sea glass Hazel would collect whenever they visited the beach.

"It was." Will said after a while. "I don't like the dark. But I can still see."

Nico's heart beat steadily, more alive and more strongly, in his chest.

"I see you."

Nico shook his head because in a way, Will had. In his little corner booth, in his dark washed jeans and skull-punk rock t-shirt. In the shadows where he'd usually kept to himself, Will had seen him.

"This is so weird." Nico blurted out.

"Aww, I thought we were having a moment." Will cried.

"That's why it's so weird." Nico chuckled. "I don't do conversations like this. I don't do conversations at all."

"Why not?" Will asked.

"Because." Nico searched for his words. "I'm me. I'm Nico di Angelo, Ghost King. Grim Reaper. I wear all black and stick to myself. I have friends but we don't go to the same school. They're all older than me. They're actually my sisters' friends who got roped into spending time with me. People turn the other way when I come. They close their eyes when they pass by."

"I guess my ears were extra sensitive since I didn't have a choice with my eyes." Will murmured. "And I think that's what wrong with the world. Their eyes are too open they miss the little things. For example, I know you're kind. I spilled tea all over you and you reacted just like anyone else would. I came to the wrong table but you let me sit down with you anyways. I interrupted your afternoon alone, but you asked to draw me. You're a good person. I can see that even if I'm blind."

Nico sat, stunned. Speak, his brain begged him. Biance would never let you live this down. You're making a friend. You're being honest. For once, just say whatever it is that you have to say.

"You're a good person too."

"Probably." Will shrugged. "I did spill tea on you, not very good of me."

"What do you know?" Nico huffed.

"What indeed." Will chuckled. "Oh wait! I do know it's probably been a while that we've been here."

Nico sat up straighter in his seat and he glanced out the windows, where yes, night had fallen. "How did you know that?"

"I felt time shift." Will answered with a completely straight face. "Just kidding, my phone's been vibrating like crazy. My dad's outside to pick me up. And since it's him, it's probably really late."

Nico glanced at his watch. "Six o'clock. Not too bad."

"Yeah." Will smiled. His hand moved across the table, searching. It landed on Nico's sketchbook. "Oh, are you done with the drawing?"

Drat. "No... I... I got distracted when I took the shades off. You're eyes..."

"Bluer than blue, right?" Will teased. "My dad would talk your ear off about my eyes. I'm the only one in the family with this shade. It gets on my nerves sometimes."

"Well," Caution. Wind. "They're beautiful."

Will paused in his seat, before a look of deterimination crossde his face. He reached his hand out one more time, this time latching onto Nico's. "I wish I could see yours. I bet they're also beautiful."

"I'm your average American-Italian joe." Nico mumbled. "Black hair, black eyes, pale skin."

"Doesn't sound very average to me." Will paused. "You scream mystery, darkness."

"I thought you didn't like darkness." Nico pulled his hand back a bit.

Will followed, "I don't think I really mind much. Anymore. You grow to love it. It's... comforting. Listen, I have to go but I... I wanna see you. Actually see you. Do you have a number I can call or..."

The question trailed off for a minute. A long minute. A very, very long sixty seconds. Which were totalled into a full minute.

A crestfallen look started to form on Will's face before Nico realized that yes, he was waiting for an answer. Yes, he was asking for his number. And yes, Nico had one to give. And it was okay. Okay... to give it away...

Nico's hands moved faster than his brain and tongue could. They reached for the still vibrating phone in Will's shirt pocket, sorta accidentally rejected the fifteenth (fifteenth holy hell!) call from probably Dr. Apollo, and put in his number. He returned it with a shaky hand. "There. C-Call me when you want to."

That insane grin made it's way back to Will's face. "Great. I mean, I will. I mean, thank you, Nico."

Nico let a small smile tug on his lips. "Thanks right back, Will..."

"Okay." Will licked at his lips, thinking. "I'm not sure I wanna make an embarassment of myself by letting my father meet you because Lord know he'll chat your ear off. So until I can do some damage control, we'll hold off the meeting the parents thing okay?"

"Doesn't that require at least four dates?" Nico teased.

"You're right!" Will joked back. He stood up, steadying himself. He looked down at Nico, though his eyes weren't completely focused. "I'll... I have to go now but I'll call you."

"Okay." Nico nodded.

"Right." Will nodded too. "Uh, bye."

"Bye."

There was a moment were Nico watched to make sure Will made it out the door without killing himself before everything just went kinda numb for Nico. His eyes drifted down his corner table, where he had spent an entire afternoon/evening with a boy who'd spilled tea on him and saw him even through the darkness. He took a deep breath and mulled over his thoughts.

Then he looked at his unfinished sketch. Inspiration struck him as he remembered the afternoon, as he remembered their conversation. All the ridiculous jokes, the passionate rants. His pencil moved fast, burrowing deep strokes, he paid more attention to the eyes, trying to remember that shade of blue that had seen him and yet hadn't. He couldn't get anything wrong, he tried to remember what he could of his model.

He let out a deep breath when he couldn't add anything more.

Nico almost jumped when his phone vibrated, he pulled it out, careful not to smudge the charcoal, or anymore of what he'd already gotten on his skin.

**From: Unknown  
  
Text: Hey Nico! I got one of my sisters to type this out for me. I just wanted to say that I'm glad I spilt tea on you. I mean, that I met you, not that I spilt tea on you. Do me a solid and put some petroleum jelly on that. Help me ease the worry of possibly handicapping the next da Vinci. Anyways, I can't wait to see that portrait. I'll hopefully have my eyesight by the end of the week. That sounded weird, but you get it. This is Will by the way, just in case some other poor, careless, and most probably apologetic soul decided to spill tea on you. Again, sorry.**

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Halloo darkness my old friend~! New to the fandom, hi! I'm not sure what I wanted to get across here, it came off as drabble-y huhu. I hope it was somewhat entertaining. Also, I'm not sure how I wanted to go with their characters. I'm still working on keeping them IC. Would probably write a sequel on when Will first sees Nico... or something? Would it be something you'd read?
> 
> Nique


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